Thursday, August 13, 2009

I spend a lot of my time trying to think up new reasons for overweight, self-conscious women to buy cheap jeans. Most of this effort is made in vain; usually they just buy whatever's cheapest. But "the powers that be" are convinced that some new form of reverse psychology or word manipulation will make people buy our jeans. I had never thought about this much, until one day it occurred to me: why not make special jeans?

For numerous reasons, it is impossible for us to turn out a truly special product. 50% of our job is to manufacture clothing, and the other 50% is to manufacture desire. I used to get off on this, but now it just wears me out. We all make jeans so cheap they fall apart within a year, so the lady will have to buy another pair. The only question is where she'll "fill 'er up": with us, or with the competition? It is the perfect product: food that increases hunger with each bite. This is not something special.

Something special is the opposite of hunger. It is the thing with an appeal so strong that it could call a satiated man back to the dinner table. It isn't a veil of words, or a wall of noise, or a sensation. This little slice of the Internet is dedicated to those little, special things: the ones that make you smile, the ones that make you think, and the ones that help to bring you satisfaction.